4-Lake System Supplying Water To Sao Paulo Now At 4% Of Capacity; Svc. Guaranteed To Mid-November

[hatrack]

Latin America’s biggest metropolis may run out of water by next month, Sao Paulo’s water utility says. For some of the 20 million residents across greater Sao Paulo, the nation’s financial hub, taps are already running dry.

Dilma Pena, the chief executive officer of Sao Paulo state-run company Sabesp, told the city council in testimony yesterday that supplies are only guaranteed until November unless it can tap the last of the water left in its Cantareira reservoir. The four-lake complex that supplies half of Sao Paulo has already been drained of 96 percent of its water capacity amid Brazil’s worst drought in eight decades, and water regulators have so far refused to allow Sabesp (SBSP3) to use the rest on concern it’s mismanaging supplies.

While Pena said yesterday there has been no rationing, residents in neighborhoods across the city are already complaining of scattered shortages. Bars near MASP, the red-concrete modern-art museum that is a staple of Sao Paulo postcards, say they are serving drinks in plastic cups because they can’t wash dishes.
Story: A Bottled Water for Kids Relaunches in a Throwback Package

Ibirapuera park, surrounded by some of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, was without water on Saturday, when temperatures reached 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit). Two restaurants bordering Praca da Se, a square in Sao Paulo’s historic downtown area, are also complaining of water shortages of as long as 12 hours a day.

EDIT

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-16/sao-paulo-without-water-unless-reserves-tapped-now-says-utility

[Systematic Chaos]

1. 20 million people without water? Happens all the time!

This is nothing a couple of those new southern Atlantic hurricanes can't fix!

[OnlinePoker]

2. This is what happens when you build a city in a rainforest then cut down the forest

No more rain.